Anxiety pricked at my senses. “I know.”
We had only the bare supplies with us, and the land around us was rocky and barren. The temperature would drop sharply as soon as the sun set in a couple of hours. It would be a rough night for the adults, but for the children…There was a possibility they may not survive it. I’d pushed that thought to the back of my mind, but we were less than five hours from sunset, and I couldn’t put it off any longer.
“You want to talk to him, or should I?” Helgi asked.
I looked at the back of Vesper’s head. He led the troop, confident, at ease, as if we were going on a fucking stroll, and maybe to him it was just that. Or maybe I was reading him wrong. Damn, he was an enigma.
“Here.” I handed Helgi my daggers. “So that I’m not tempted to stab him.”
She snorted. “That bad, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
I took a deep breath to ground myself and then joined Vesper at the front of our group.
“How much farther?”
“At this pace, we’ll be there by midday,” he said.
Midday was long gone, so that meant… “Midday tomorrow?”
“Yes, midday tomorrow.” He sounded pissed off. Again.
Don’t rise to the bait, Anya. “We have no supplies, no food. The children—”
“Are not my problem,” he snapped. “I promised Dante I’d get you safely to the Furtherlands. You, not your whole entourage.”
Despite my best intentions, rage unfurled and whiplashed in my chest. “What is your problem?”
“You are my problem.” He turned his head to shoot me a lethal glare. “You and your fucking heroics and your tiny Skin siblings. You.”
He turned away from me, ran a few meters, and then exploded into the air in dragon form. In a few seconds he was nothing but a dot on the horizon.
My stomach plummeted.
“What just happened?” Bran asked.
“Did he just leave us?” Helgi asked.
My mouth was dry. “I think he did.”
* * *
We’d found an outcrop of rocks, barely enough kindling to build a small fire, but no fucking flint to start it. The sun was setting and there was already a bite to the air. Neddie and Gemma huddled together under one blanket and Stefan and June shared another. The rest of us would have to make do with body heat.
I’ll lie by the children. Lend them my heat, Azazel said.
His voice was stronger, telling me he was on the mend, but unless he hugged them, his heat wouldn’t be enough.
“Thank you.”
“Azazel?” Helgi asked, joining me by the fire we were unable to light.
“Yes.”
“What did he say.”
“Just that he’ll lie by the little ones to keep them warm.”
“I wish I could hear him.”
She could if you’d let me…
If I let him kill. “No.”
Helgi looked hurt. “Calm down, chick.”
“Not you. Him. I was speaking to him.”
Gemma began to sob softly. “I’m hungry. I’m cold. I want to go home.”
“Hush,” June said. “It’ll be okay.”
My stomach ached with impotence.
Azazel drifted away, and a minute later Gemma sighed and dropped her head onto Neddie’s shoulder. He was close by them, warming them as best he could. But he couldn’t fill their bellies.
Neither could I.
Fuck Vesper. Fuck him and fuck—
A gust of air rippled over us, and then the night sounds were obscured by the beat of wings.
“What the—” I looked up at the starlit sky and my curses for Vesper shriveled on my tongue.
He was back.
And he wasn’t alone.
He landed, morphing into human form as his feet hit the ground, and four dragons landed behind him. Two were a silvery-gray in the moonlight and two were a pale orange.
I stared at him as he approached, trying to mask the relief that threatened to wash over my face and give me away. The bastard had made me think he’d abandoned us.
I crossed my arms and arched a brow.
His smile was wicked and knowing. “Aw, did you think I’d abandoned you?” He pouted. “Luckily for you, I take my promises seriously, and even though I may have only promised to bring you safely to the Furtherlands, if I let your entourage perish along the way, Dante would never let me hear the end of it.” He sighed. “The Dreki is a nag,” he drawled.
I preferred this Vesper to pissed-off Vesper. This Vesper I could handle. Movement behind him drew my attention to the orange dragons. Smoke billowed in wisps from their nostrils, wafting toward the children.
“It’s warm!” Stefan grinned at the dragon closest to him. My instinct should have been to plant myself between him and the strange dragons, but the urge was absent.
“She won’t hurt him,” Vesper said.
I knew that to be true somehow.
“Talia and Ria are brood mothers,” he continued. “Two of a handful of female Dreki in the Furtherlands. They raise our young. Right now, we have five in the nursery.” The dragons moved closer to the children, blowing air from their nostrils to warm them.
Gemma held out her arms to the nearest dragon with a shy smile.
“The brood mothers will carry the children,” Vesper continued. “They have pouches. The children will be warm and safe.” He glanced at the two gray dragons. “Miles, Xander, and I will carry the rest of you.”
“You could have just told me you were going to get help.”
He shrugged. “Yes, I suppose I could have.” He turned away. “Load up. If we leave now, we can be in the Furtherlands in a couple of hours.”
He’d dismissed me, and any other time I’d have bitten his head off about it, but the relief was coursing through me like a wave of euphoria, washing away everything else.
He’d come back for us.
He’d fucking come back.
Chapter Seven
The air was cold this high up, but I lay against Vesper’s back, my torso pressed to his scales to shield me from the worst of the elements. The air was thinner at this altitude, contributing to the lightheaded feeling that made the whole experience seem more than a little surreal.
The children
